Hey, I Like Your Style! Inside the wardrobe of Melbourne-based designer, Zoe Crow
IMAGE VIA @zoe_crow44/INSTAGRAM
WORDS BY CAITLIN CEFAI
“Style is built from experience, growth and change.”
We know personal style is a journey (I’m looking at you, Tumblr years), so we’ve introduced a new series Hey, I Like Your Style!, diving into the fashion psyche of our favourite creatives. We’re talking the good, the bad and the 2007.
While the internet has made our fashion icons feel closer than ever before, even the most effortless of outfits came from a closet with some (well-dressed) skeletons. Clickable product tags, photo archives and lives chronicled in 30-second clips just don’t tell the full story.
For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.
These are the stories behind the wardrobes, exploring how we develop our own personal style. There’s a brilliance behind the way we choose to express ourselves and at FJ, we know every outfit has a story.
This week, we’re delving into the personal style journey of Melbourne designer and artist, Zoe Crow. Growing up with a style that was “a bit left of centre”, Zoe moved through the rite-of-passage teenage phases before discovering her love for fashion at art school. Now running her own fashion label, Ocray44, Zoe’s wardrobe is comprised of muted secondhand gems, vintage Margiela and one holy-grail ‘thneed’.
Who are you and what do you like to wear?
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My names Zoe Crow. I’m a once-aspiring painter and fashion uni dropout. I’m also the creator behind [the fashion brand] Ocray44 (yes, I am responsible for the bleached flower caps you’ve probably seen at the last music festival you attended). I like my colours muted; [I like a lot] of vintage, love a good boot and I own too many long pleated skirts.
What has your style evolution looked like? Do you feel like you’ve gained confidence in the way you dress?
When I developed the cognitive ability to dress– around the age of four or five – I resolutely resisted any attempt to get into skirts or dresses. I hate the term ‘tomboy’ because it reinforces gender binaries and the origins are problematic – but I was on the tomboy spectrum. Ew. Sorry I had to use that word.
I think from my early days of pant-wearing I subconsciously set in my mind that fashion was frivolous. I’d rework all my clothes and got excited when I discovered layering at eight years old. This mindset continued in my late teens until I started studying fine art.
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As a young aspiring painter, I was initially reluctant to call fashion an artform; thinking it was subordinate. But the deeper I delved into my studies, the more obvious the parallels [between fashion and art] came to light. I saw how fashion held social and political importance in history… I think once I allowed myself to be unguarded to fashion, I really let the floodgates open.
I studied fashion and I started wearing whatever I wanted without any residual shame. With that came newfound confidence in how I expressed myself.
Personal style is a journey. Have you ever felt like you needed to fit into a particular fashion box?
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Growing up, what I wore was always a bit left of centre. But it’s easy to become complacent and [to become afraid of] pushing it too far. My wardrobe has been consistently made up of at least 80 to 90 per cent vintage for as long as I remember.
I grew up loving flew markets and op shops. If I’m looking for a new item, I’ll always try to find it secondhand online. Mostly, I’ve always worn what I liked and what made sense to me at the time.
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I’ve gone through a lot of different phases and had my bouts of trying to fit into social pressures… it’s all a part of shaping your perceptions. I think the older you get, the fewer fucks you start to give… acquired taste just comes with the territory.
Style is built from experience, growth and change. If you didn’t wear that fugly bicycle-print Supré tank (it was hot property in 2011), how would you ever know it should be burned and never see the light of day again?
Take us back to those awkward teenage years. Do you have any fashion regrets?
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I discovered a love for punk, metal and ’90s-era emo music at 15. In turn, I had a phase of rocking raccoon eyes, black mesh, leather jackets and band tees. I owned these big fat black boots that gave me a few inches in height. My friends loved to call them the ‘romper stompers’.
There was also definitely a kind of hippie-seashell phase that went on at some point. It included lots of tie-dyes, hair down to my butt and long skits. I’ve worn some very questionable things over the years but I unquestionably have no fashion regrets. Shitty teenage outfits are character-building and always a good laugh to look back on.
What are the most expensive and least expensive items in your wardrobe?
My most expensive item would be either my Kiko Kostadinov Asics Gel-Aurania shoes or my vintage Vivienne Westwood Propaganda Puffer Coat. My least expensive item comes with a story. I’d just recently lost my luggage for a week while travelling in Berlin, so I hit the nearest op shop and found my cheapest holy grail wardrobe item.
I’ve never seen a four-dollar brown cotton-stretch scarf morph into so many different outfits. You’re in the mood for a Boob tube? No problem. Halter neck? Easy. Mini dress? Grab a pin and use your creativity. A hammock? Haven’t tested this one out but I’m sure it could work with the right trees.
It truly did it all. Fittingly, my friends and I deemed it a thneed. (If you don’t know what a thneed is… that’s a hate crime and you should Google it effective immediately.)
What is the most meaningful fashion piece you own?
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If there was a hypothetical fire about to burn down all the pieces I’ve gruellingly collected over the years in my incredibly packed wardrobe, I’d grab my very disgusting, very stained, very ugly jumper that I stole from my dad about a decade ago.
Given my father is on the verge of six-foot-four and I wore it to death when I was 13, it’s also very big. It’s gross but it holds a lot of sentimental value. Conversely, if there was a real fire… I’d grab my SS006 Margiela Tabi grey knee-highs. Sorry dad.
What’s in your cart at the moment?
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I have a long list. There’s really nothing quite like the mental and physical labour of spending half a day adding to your ‘never actually going to buy this’ cart on Buyee or eBay. But since I’m already on the topic… my dusty Buyee checkout cart (it hasn’t been touched in a while) is holding onto some vintage Rick Owens spiral jeans, a few Marithé Francois Girbaud pieces, an If Six Was Nine jacket and some Dirk Bikkembergs boots.
These items will continue to rot in my cart and I will continue to think ‘Shit, I was just about to buy that’ when I see they’ve sold. Just to clarify, I usually wasn’t ‘just about’ to buy anything. The regret, despite being completely unwarranted, still hurts.
What fashion piece are you saving for right now?
Nothing right now. But always saving in case the right thing comes around.
What are the wardrobe items you wear on repeat?
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My Ocray44 brown/blue scarf, my silver Balenciaga moto bag, baggy black True Religion jeans and my Vivienne Westwood Propaganda Jacket (you’d have to pry me out of that right now, nothing else is keeping me above sub-zero in this Melbourne weather).
Who are your favourite local designers?
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Naarm/Melbourne holds a lot of amazing local talent. There’s unmatched support for up-and-coming designers that I don’t think you can find in any other city. [My favourites are] Ocray44 (shameless plug) and I have a few pieces from Oats the Label that I love.
Eethyn is a lovely person and they make even lovelier knitwear; I also love Jules Bramley and Emily Watson. I used to study with @000033shop, they’re very talented and have some insane bags. I’ve seen a lot of potential from current and graduate RMIT design students.
Find more of Zoe’s looks here.
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